Completely different walk: a breeze from the southeast making it acceptable, but 66°F out and very humid, completely overcast and the sound of birds, but only one lone crow making its appearance.

I have been having a great deal of trouble with my neck this week. I have had problems with the right side of my neck and right shoulder ever since I had my thyroid cancer surgery. The doctor had to scrape nodules off tissue in the area of my right scapular and it has been stiff and sore all the time every since. Sometimes I wake up with a "stiff neck" from "sleeping wrong," but twice in the past three days the pain has begun after I am up and moving. It extends from the mastoid bone area (that lump of skull behind your ear) all the way down the right side of my neck and straddles my shoulder. If I bend my head down right now I see stars! Bad enough this one started out of the blue when I washed my face; the pain on Wednesday started during my walk. I thought exercise was supposed to loosen you up!

I should take something and lie down, but I have something I'm working on and the TruGreen guy is expected any minute to aereate the fescue in the back yard.

Speaking of the weather, that 34° the other night has jump-started the trees. We had an all-hands yesterday and as I drove in I marveled at the changes in the trees just since Tuesday! There is a glorious little maple tree with scarlet tips at the front of a condo development on Spring Road, a half dozen maples standing out in orange and saffron between pines and live oaks on I-285 westbound Riverside Drive, and even one jaunty yellow-orange-and-red tree between the buildings at the Chamblee campus where we had our meeting. I allowed myself a treat after the 40-minute drive by stopping at the used bookstore on Clairmont Road. Drat! No Christmas books out yet; this is where I found the wonderful William Sansom book last year. I did buy a small book of essays about Boston. Appropriately, on the day after what would have been Mary Bloemker's birthday, I opened the book at random in the middle of an article about the Maverick area of East Boston, where Mary used to live. Life's funny that way...